Plasmonic Excitations in Nanoscale Clusters

In this poster, we discuss the plasmonic excitations in nanoscale clusters in the presence of an applied external electromagnetic field. The nonlocal dielectric function is calculated in real space within the random phase approximation, with the electronic energy levels and wavefunctions determined from tight-binding models. The resonant frequencies of plasmons are then identified using a self-consistent field approach. Our aim is to understand the effects of quantum tunneling and Coulomb interactions on the plasmonic excitations in nanoscale clusters. By changing the separation between clusters and embedding them into tunable dielectric backgrounds, we are able to control these two effects.